


Peace Times and First Times

by athersgeo



Series: The Sacoridian Snippets [3]
Category: Green Rider Series - Kristen Britain
Genre: F/M, First Time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 19:46:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/601416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/athersgeo/pseuds/athersgeo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the war is a time for peace and a chance for Karigan and Zachary to rebuild Sacordia</p>
            </blockquote>





	Peace Times and First Times

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fourfreedoms](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fourfreedoms/gifts).



> Set a somewhat unspecified time after Blackveil. If I were KB, this is how I'd end the series.

Karigan looked at herself in the mirror, studying herself in minute detail. She didn't recognise the elegant lady she was seeing. There were no traces of dirt smudged on her face; her hair was drawn back in a loose, courtly style rather than a more practical (and severe) braid; her clothing was of the finest silks and and laces that her father had been able to find instead of the hardwearing fabric of her rider uniform.

"You look beautiful," Zachary murmured from the doorway, his expression midway between admiration and outright lust.

Karigan looked up from her self-study. "I look like a total stranger," she retorted. "And you know it."

That twisted the king's expression from lust to amusement and his face split into a wide grin. "That I do, but there are certain expectations that have to be met. And, let's not forget, this day is more for the people of Sacordia than it is for us."

"True." Karigan screwed her face up into a grimace. "That doesn't mean I'm going to like this. And it doesn't mean I'm going to wear this every day from here on in."

"So duly noted," he answered, the grin still in place.

"I shall still be a Rider, after all."

"And a Weapon and a knight of this realm," Zachary added. "And I shouldn't want you any other way. But, in a matter of hours, you will also be queen, and - or at least so I've been told - queens occasionally have to wear garments that aren't fit to fight in."

Karigan shot him a half hearted glare. "It's not too late for me to change my mind."

"You won't." There was confidence in that statement.

"This lace is making me consider it," she retorted, but she softened her words with a smile.

Zachary laughed. "I must go. You, of course, may be late. I, however, must be on time."

"Have you ever known me be late?"

"Not intentionally," he allowed. He inclined his head towards her. "Until later."

And with that, he withdrew.

Karigan turned back to the mirror, but this time she didn't see the stranger in her finery. Instead, she saw images of the past. Zachary was correct when he said that the people needed this celebration. The last few years had seen upheaval and bloodshed on a terrible scale with the activities of Shordell and Second Empire and the return of Mornhavon the Black. And while the war may have ultimately been won, there would be rebuilding for years to come. So the time was absolutely right for a nationwide celebration and the King's impending marriage certainly fit that bill.

Karigan just wished that she wasn't going to be at the centre of it.

Part of her still didn't entirely believe that she was the one to be marrying Zachary. After all, she was a commoner and he was the High King. She was of the merchant clans while he was of the royal line. She was a Green Rider; he was her commander in chief. And yet the war had rendered those differences null and void.

Everyone had lost someone.

The names of all the Riders who'd perished in the war flashed through Karigan's mind. From F'Ryan Coblebay, the man whose place she'd so unwittingly taken at the start of the unrest, all the way through to Laren Mapstone, so long the Riders' Captain; she fell in the final battle, giving her life for her king.

The political makeup of Sacordia had changed too. Many of the old Lord-Governors had died during the struggle, leaving younger generations to lead the provinces; younger nobles who had seen what a lack of unity could do and who were determined not to make the mistakes of their parents. There would still be petty feuds and intrigues between the provinces, but as long as the king was strong and wise, the provinces would support him.

"Karigan!"

The voice was high and sweet. Karigan again looked up from her mirror in time to see Lady Estral Andovian, journeyman minstrel and Karigan's best friend, enter her apartments.

"You're going to be late!" Estral admonished. "Aren't you ready yet?"

"I'm ready," Karigan answered. She glanced back at the mirror. "I think."

Estral snorted inelegantly and shook her head. "You would have been happier to be married in your Rider uniform."

"At least I'd look like me."

"In a few hours this will all be over," Estral pointed out, though her tone was not entirely sympathetic to Karigan's plight. "But not--"

"Not if I don't attend the chapel," Karigan finished. She stood and walked slowly towards the door, taking careful account of her unaccustomed skirts.

"Come," said Estral, offering her arm as Karigan tottered in shoes , "it's time."

Karigan nodded. It was time. She had expected to be nervous, but as Estral led her out of her apartments and through the castle towards the Chapel of the Moon, she found that, more than anything, she was excited. As much as she hated being on public display, this was the first step towards rebuilding Sacordia and she was looking forward to beginning that process.

*

It was late when Karigan and Zachary were finally released from their obligations and allowed to return to their private apartments. The wedding ceremony itself had been simple and to the point, but after it had come the wedding feast with people from all the Sacordian provinces and islands; nobles and notables from Rhovanny; Eletians with their ethereal beauty; Green Riders past and present... The castle's Great Hall had been filled to capacity and then some and Karigan thought that she might just have talked to every person there at least twice.

"How does it feel?" Zachary asked as he finally closed the doors on a grinning pair of Weapons.

"How does what feel?"

"To be a queen."

"Uncomfortable," Karigan answered frankly, drawing a laugh. "And a bit of a relief."

"A relief?" From his expression, Zachary clearly hadn't been expecting that answer.

"It means that everything really is all over," Karigan enlarged, starting to work on the fastenings of her dress, "and that we can look forward now, without fear."

"I see your point." He stepped forward. "Here; allow me." And before Karigan could say a word, she felt his sure strong fingers began unlacing the top of her dress. 

She shivered at the touch and turned to face him. He was closer than she'd expected and she found herself wrapped in a tight embrace. For a moment, Karigan was startled - after all, this was a position she'd spent more time than she wanted to think about avoiding - then the fact of being allowed to be that close sank in. As did the realisation that this was far from the worst position in the world.

Zachary felt reassuringly strong and real against her and she felt her heart start to beat just that little bit faster, particularly as he offered her a teasing smile.

"You really are beautiful, Karigan," he murmured. He traced the side of her face with his fingers, brushing strands of hair aside. Then he leaned in and kissed her, gently, on the lips.

They had kissed before. The night she had accepted his proposal. The night before the final battle, when neither of them had been certain they would survive. That morning, at the climax of the wedding ceremony - before the well wishers and onlookers in the chapel. None of those kisses had prepared Karigan for this simple sweetness. It was almost a chaste gesture and yet it hinted at something far more.

And by the Gods, she wanted him. In that moment, she had never wanted anything more.

In the next moment, she was wincing as the bones of her corset pinched her flesh.

The embrace broke apart as Zachary started to chuckle.

"This isn't funny," Karigan retorted, massaging the offended portion of her anatomy.

"No," he agreed, "but it is both uniquely you and uniquely us. Even when this is permitted, something was bound to intervene."

At that Karigan found herself giving a rueful chuckle of her own. "At least it's merely a corset and not a Rider captain, or a scheming Lord-Governor, or the doings of a madman, or--"

Zachary raised his hands in protest. "Stop! You don't need to list them, my love. I do recall them all. Quite vividly." He gestured that she should turn around again. "It might merely be a corset, but it's still between us and I will be happy to remove it."

Karigan obliged, still smiling. "As you command, sire."

He snorted, even as she felt the corset's laces release. "I have never known anyone else who could make a polite address sound quite so disrespectful. I may just need to punish you for that." 

She felt him lift her hair away from the back of her neck, then gasped in surprise as she felt his lips press a tender kiss there. "Do--do you promise?" she asked, her voice not quite as steady as she'd intended.

"Oh yes," he murmured. "Very much so."

The corset dropped away, leaving her bared from the waist up. She heard a sound that might have been Zachary wincing as he saw the myriad of scars that marred her back. A roadmap of her assorted adventures and battles.

"You have given so much," he observed.

She turned back to face him. "So have you. Your scars might not be so visible, but that doesn't mean they're not there." Karigan drew him into an embrace. "Neither of us is whole any more, but we fit together in a way that means it doesn't matter." She stretched up and planted a gentle kiss on his lips. "I love you."

"And I love you," Zachary replied.

They kissed once more. This time, though, there was nothing chaste or gentle about it. It was a kiss of passion and promise and of all the feelings that they'd been forced to bottle up. Lips parted and tongues played and danced together until Karigan lost all sense of where she ended and Zachary began. It only came to an end when breathing became a necessity, and even then, it didn't truly end.

Instead, Zachary slowly started to kiss his way down her throat and towards Karigan's bared breasts. As his mouth latched onto one pert nipple, Karigan groaned. She had truly never felt anything like this in her life. So much so that she missed the moment when his fingers made light work of the fastenings to her skirt. It was only when the heavy fabric dropped away from her hips, leaving her standing in just her undergarments that she realised what he'd done.

"Sneaky," she murmured, pulling him away from her breasts. "My turn."

And before he could say anything, she had initiated another, passionate kiss. This time, she was the one with busy hands as she pushed away his shortcoat and waistcoat and started work on his shirt. When the buttons wouldn't part, she simply tore them open, not caring about anything beyond finally getting to touch him.

The kiss ended as the last button gave way, leaving her both panting and with an entirely new view of her king. The muscles she'd always known were there were now displayed in all their glory. Not over defined, like some preferred, but sculpted by long hours of hard work in the practice ring.

"Satisfied?" Zachary asked, amusement on his face and in his voice.

"Not yet," Karigan replied. She reached out and traced the prominent scar in the middle of his chest and was surprised when he flinched. "I didn't--"

"No; it doesn't hurt. I'm just..." Zachary looked a little chagrined. "Ticklish."

Karigan cocked an eyebrow at that revelation. "I'll bear that in mind."

"Is that a threat or a promise?"

"Oh, both. Definitely."

Then they were kissing again. Hands roaming, learning the planes and hollows of each other's bodies, then pulling close enough that heartbeats could be felt and shared. One of Karigan's hands wandered lower and brushed against his hardened member, drawing a gasp from Zachary.

"Bed," he growled, breaking the kiss. "Now."

Karigan wasn't going to complain. Her own excitement was coiling low in her belly and she knew she couldn't last much longer.

They started to kiss again. This time, with Zachary taking the lead, they started to move in the direction of the sumptuous bed. The next thing Karigan knew, she was being gently lowered onto the down-filled covers. The silk was cold against her heated skin and yet it fanned the flames still higher.

"Please!" she begged, not caring that she sounded needy.

"Gladly," Zachary answered.

There was a moment's pause, while he dispensed with the last of his clothing, then he was covering her, filling her so completely that Karigan found herself climaxing. Wave after wave of pleasure crashed over her. Then he began to move and she realised that the ride was only just beginning. Each thrust of his body drew more feelings out of her until she was almost dizzy and lost in a haze of excitement. 

With a guttural shout, Zachary came. She felt him spill his seed in her and felt her body respond with one last, intense burst of pleasure.

For a few moments, they lay together, entangled and breathless and sated.

"That was..." But Karigan didn't quite have the words for it.

"Yes, it was." Neither did Zachary. He smiled. "Worth the wait."

Karigan smiled in return. "Perhaps."

He arched an eyebrow. "Perhaps?"

"I think we might need more evidence."

Zachary's smile turned predatory. "More evidence, you say?"

"So we can be sure." Karigan leaned over and kissed him. "I love you."

"And I love you."

As Zachary's lips descended upon hers for another passionate kiss, Karigan thought she saw just the faintest hint of another person in the room. One of the ghosts who had, over the years, given her aid in her battles. She wasn't sure who it was, but they appeared to be smiling.

Even the ghosts are happy about this, she thought. Then, as Zachary's hand traced down the midline of her body, she forgot about ghosts and history and everything that had gone before and focussed on the present.


End file.
